NEVER A NEITHER – A HYBRID MYSTERY SNAKE IN ENGLAND?

 

Barred grass snake (prime) and feminine frequent adder (backside); can these
two species, very separate taxonomically, not solely mate but in addition produce viable
hybrid offspring? (public area/public area)

In England, the 2 commonest
species of snake are the barred grass or ringed snake Natrix helvetica (typically referred to in southern England merely as
the snake) and the European viper or frequent adder Vipera berus. Belonging as they do to 2 fully separate, solely
distantly associated taxonomic households (Colubridae and Viperidae respectively),
it’s hardly doubtless that these two snakes would ever come collectively even to
mate, not to mention produce viable hybrid offspring.

But there’s a longstanding
perception emanating from southern England’s very sizeable New Forest that such
crossbreeds can and do happen. Based on H.M. Livens’s e-book Nomansland: A Village Historical past (1910),
as an example:

It’s affirmed all through the [New]
Forest that there’s a informal hybrid between the [grass] snake and the adder,
which, in consequence of being neither adder nor [grass] snake, is named a Neither (pronounced nither). In color
it varies between these of its dad and mom, typically displaying a larger leaning to
the one aspect, and typically to the opposite. In its proportions it runs nearer to
the adder than to the [grass] snake, being about 18 inches lengthy; that’s,
fairly longer than an adder however not fairly so stout. The Neither is normally
discovered on or close to damp floor concerning the head of a bathroom. When attacked it can
chunk the stick as an adder does. A [grass] snake won’t do that. Its chunk is
mentioned to be venomous. It’s not identified to breed.

 

The
New Forest can also be dwelling to Britain’s third, rarest, and least-known native
species of snake, the sleek snake Coronella
austriaca. But, oddly, it’s talked about solely very briefly, in passing, by
Livens, claiming that it’s uncommon right here, when in actuality it’s discovered all through
the New Forest’s extent. Furthermore, its barred markings are harking back to each
the grass snake’s and the adder’s, however it’s so shy as to be seldom seen and
stays very a lot a mysterious, enigmatic serpent right here.

Consequently,
I feel it extremely doubtless that the sleek snake is the true id of Livens’s
alleged grass snake x adder hybrid, the neither. Even its favoured habitat of damp
heath and bathroom compares properly with that of the neither, as does its well-known
predilection for biting if antagonised or captured. True, the sleek snake is
not venomous, however many non-venomous animal species are wrongly deemed to be
via native superstition or ignorance, particularly if, like the sleek snake,
they’re rarely-seen, elusive creatures – which might additionally clarify why the neither
is just not identified to breed.

In brief, it might appear that the neither is an unimaginable snake
rendered attainable in spite of everything.